Surviving the Hunger Games
by HorcruxesandHallows
Summary: A short guide for an ordinary girl from District Twelve.
1. Imagine

__**I made this for a friend for her eighteenth birthday, since she is completely obsessed with The Hunger Games. It's only short but I only had a month to do it. Anyway, enjoy!**__

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><p><strong>IMAGINE...<strong>

You're standing in the crowd of boys and girls from the Seam. You know them by face, some even by name. You know that in the next five minutes or so two will be chosen to represent District 12 in the annual Hunger Games. Only one can come back alive. All you can do is hope that your name is not pulled from the bowl.

Your name is in there twenty times. Maybe more. You've lost count of the many tesseraes you've taken to keep your family from starvation. You hope it's not you.

Effie White is smiling on the stage in her ridiculously coloured wig, her bright clothes and manicured nails. She is a product of the Capitol. You hate the Capitol. You hate them for making you hope that it's not you.

Her well polished nails reach into the bowl, curling around a slip of paper. You hope it's not you. Everywhere there is silence. You hope it's not you. Everyone is staring at the slip as Effie carefully unfolds it. You hope it's not you. Everything inside you is screaming to run. Because you know. You knew the minute she picked up that slip of paper.

It is you.

Welcome to the Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favour.


	2. Step 1  The Reaping

**The Reaping**

You're doomed. Everyone's thinking it. You can see it in their eyes. You can't survive this. Impossible. You're just a girl from District 12. They don't breed Careers in District 12. You'll be dead the first morning. In fact, from the looks on some of those faces, you'd think you were dead already. You're not. Your feet are moving you onwards, towards the stage where Effie White is waiting. No one volunteers for you. They aren't stupid.

You climb the stairs and stand frozen on the stage, hundreds of eyes paired on you. Pitying you. You're not dead yet. Know what that means? That means you're alive. That means you can still do everything it takes to stay alive. So you straighten your back. Raise your chin. Pretend not to be affected when they announce the name of the male tribute. You don't know him. You don't want to. Because you know you'll have to kill him. If he doesn't kill you first.

You don't care. You are another piece in the Capitol's games. That is how it always was, always will be, always must be. Crying will not help. All the tears in the world will not get you out of the Hunger Games. The only way to do that is to fight.

The crowd cheer as you exit the stage, your face an expressionless mask. To show emotion is to show the Capitol they have won. They have not. You are not theirs to win. And you never will be.


	3. Step 2 Saying Goodbye

**Saying Goodbye**

Here's the hard part. I'm not going to lie to you. It hurts. Like no pack of ravenous mutts can. But you have to show them you're strong. The Capitol are watching you. They are always watching you. You want to cry so badly. Don't. Try as hard as you can. The Tributes are cleverer than they used to be. At least, their trainers are, but that's all that matters. You can't pull the weak, distraught teenager thing on them anymore. It won't work. No matter how cute and adorable you think you are.

Keep the goodbyes short. Less time for a breakdown. Besides, if you play your cards right this might not be the last time you see your loved ones. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.


	4. Step 3 The Train Ride

**The Train Ride**

This is the first time you'll really get to know your mentor and fellow District 12 Tribute. Your mentor, Haymitch, is a drunk. Don't even try to rehabilitate him. It won't be pleasant. All you can do is hope that he gets sober one day and gives you the odd piece of advice. Violence sometimes works. You can't let Haymitch think you're weak. All you can do is put up with him and hope he doesn't choke on his own vomit.

As for the other 12 Tribute, there's not much I can say. I don't know him. He could be a wonderful ray of sunshine. Or a cold-blooded killer. Assume the latter and you'll do well. You need to know exactly what 12 boy can do. What's his talent? Does he have a special skill? Or does he just rely on brute force? You need to find out. You need to know whether he's going to shoot you through the heart with a bow and arrow or smash your head in with a rock. That way, you'll know whether you need a body-plate or a helmet.


	5. Step 4 The Opening Ceremony

**The Opening Ceremony**

I hope you aren't averted to pain. You thought it would wait until the first day of the games, didn't you? You were preparing yourself for the physical agony to start there. It doesn't. What did you expect? The games don't begin when you enter the arena. They started the day the Capitol took control of Panem.

The Capitol is very specific about Tributes, especially the female ones. Body hair just won't do. And just when you think that's over, there comes the detox. By the time your prep team are done, your scalp is burning, your hair feels like it's just been completely ragged out, your skin is red raw and your body has been completely scrubbed of all that coal residue that you had become so accustomed to living in the Seam all your life. You look like a new person. The trick is maintaining a sense of who you are. You may look different, but you are still the same person that came from District 12. Don't let the Capitol shape you. Do that yourself.

Never underestimate your prep team. Do what they tell you to do when they tell you to do it. No questions. No excuses. Coming across well in the opening ceremonies is everything. You need sponsors. Unless you aren't planning on living past the first day, of course. But we'll say for argument's sake that you are. So if your prep team tell you to smile and wave, do it. If they tell you to keep still and not look at anybody, do it. And if they, for whatever reason, tell you to jump up and down on your chariot like a complete nut-job, do not question them.


	6. Step 5 The Training Centre

**The Training Centre**

Here is your chance to make your mark on the Gamemakers. You need sponsors, remember that, and getting a good score in training is vital. Work to your strengths. There's no point trying to impress the Gamemakers with something you can't do, which is why I would suggest working the training centre until you find something you actually can do. Even if it is just tying knots. Try to be imaginative here. The Hunger Games have been going on for years now. The Gamemakers have watched kids shoot a bow and arrow or a knife or whatever the Hell else you can find at a target. Boring, that's what they'll think. If you want a good score in training, be inventive, impulsive even since you can only hope to surprise the judges if you yourself are surprised.

Not only is training an excellent chance to impress potential sponsors, but here is where alliances are made. If you want to survive past the first day without a group of Careers bludgeoning you to death, my only advice is that you join them. I know it sounds like an incredibly repulsive idea, but not everyone can run fast. Don't get too close to any of your allies. That only leads to heart-break later. This isn't a case of making friends. There are no friends in the Hunger Games. There are only those you're going to kill straight away and those you're going to save until later.

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	7. Step 6 The Interviews

**The Interviews**

This is the part where you decide who you are to the people of Panem. Not who you really are, but who you want them to think are. Are you dark and mysterious? Provocative and sexy? Cunning and clever? Or are you a deer in the headlights? Because the last one won't do. If you want sponsors, people have to think you can win. You don't have to believe it yourself. You just have to make them believe it.

Ceasar Flickman will help you. He has years of experience up his sleeve. He can work with anything. Trust me. Still, it helps if you're at least a little bit open. I mean, the whole silent and deadly thing works for some people, but it's best to have a back-up plan. Your prep team can help you here. I'd suggest taking advice from your mentor, but this is Haymitch we're talking about. His idea of advice is telling you to stay the Hell out of his way unless you're bringing him something to drink. Needless to say, it's not very productive.

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	8. Step 7 The Hunger Games

**The Hunger Games**

Here it is. The moment you've been waiting for for so long now. Ever since your name was pulled out of that bowl, you've probably been imagining a number of different scenarios which might somehow call off the games. It didn't happen. Of course it didn't happen. So here you are. Welcome to Hell. In those first sixty seconds, the only thing you can really think about is how you will die, who will kill you and if they manage to scrape up all of your body to take back home.

This is your chance. Those first sixty seconds are when you decide. Because all you have to do is step out into that Cornucopia. You might not even feel it. It's a coward's way out, I know, but what is the alternative? You've had days to think about this and now you must make your decision. If you don't die now, you must be prepared for what lies ahead of you. It's kill or be killed. No matter how much you hate that, there is no way out of it.

Should you decide to stay and fight, I would suggest running. There's little more I can suggest really. You have done all the preparation you can possibly do. It's all led to this. The games have begun and the only thing you can do now is run. It shouldn't be too difficult. You've been doing it all your life. Running from the Peacekeepers and the Capitol and President Snow and everyone else who has oppressed you. Since birth, every citizen of Panem has run from their lives and from the Games. Now that you are here, you can't stop.

Here is when your alliances come in handy. If you've made them, good on you, but I wouldn't suggest sleeping for a while. Or turning your back. Or being within an arm's length of any of them. If you didn't make any alliances, that's not entirely bad either. Either way, everyone's out to kill you. And you in turn must kill them. Neither option looks terribly bright, but that isn't the point. The point is to show the people of Panem that the Capitol has won. You're just another chess piece. You all are.

Simply calling out to your mentor can make them send things to you, like water or bread. If you have sponsors, that is. But I have been telling all along to do well at the opening ceremony and in training and in the interview, haven't I? You can still survive without sponsors. It just means that you need initiative. And the ability to go without food or water for hours on end.

You training will obviously come in handy here if you need to camouflage yourself or figure out which foods are edible in the arena. Added to that, it helps if you've picked up a few fighting skills if you happened to have been inept beforehand.

As for the actual arena itself, I can't help you. It's different every year. It isn't called a game for nothing. The Gamemakers love to play with you. They love to manipulate you. They know what will make you scream, they know what will make you cry, and they know exactly what to do to send you into a murderous rage. It's all part of the show. If the people of Panem wish to see blood, then blood must be shown. But blood is never enough. They want to see pain and anger and raw emotion. They want to see you hurting in every sense of the word. That is why you don't get close to your allies. Not just because they cannot be trusted, but because they must die.

I can't help you any more. There is nothing left to help you with. You are on your own and I'm afraid you will be for the rest of your life should you win these games. If you win these games. No one will understand what you have been through. They can't. How can they? My only piece of advice that I can give you now is to never give up. As long as you still believe in your heart that they have not won, whether you die in the first sixty seconds or in the last, that is all that matters. The only thing that matters is that you show the Capitol that they have not won. That they will never win. You are not theirs to win, remember? They do not own you. Don't let them. Don't ever let them. Show them that you are strong. Show them that you are not their chess piece. Then, no matter what happens, you will have won the Hunger Games.

**~The End~**


End file.
